My husband and I are lucky enough to be away on our first trip alone since having our son 2 years ago. We decided to head to Mexico as flying to Cabo is an easy flight from Seattle. We decided to come back to an amazing hotel which we have visited several times before. Rancho Pescadero, which is several miles outside of Todos Santos seems to value the concept of farm to table. They have an amazing Garden Restaurant which serves food which it seems is 100% made from scratch. They grow most of their own vegetables in a lovely garden of about 1/4-1/2 acre. They have just planted the crops that will see them through the winter. They are lucky enough to grow almost anything they need through our winter months.I love all the various salsas that they pair with the various meals, everything has such a simple but fresh flavor. Ceviche is another delicious treat with the fish caught that day and paired with simple ingredients: lime juice, cucumber, avocado, red onion and tomatoes.

​We have spent our first two days reading books, eating, drinking, swimming and playing Yahtzee of course. This time doing essentially nothing has made us ask ourselves, 'why are we waiting until 2020 to move to Italy'? The obvious answer is 'we need to have enough money' but in the last two days I have thought to myself, 'is it ever enough'? I have been conditioned to save and save and if I am honest with myself do I know when I will feel like I have 'enough'?Doing some research on cost of living in Italy I came across this site:https://transferwise.com/gb/blog/cost-of-living-in-italy.Which clearly states that the cost is EUR 33,996 for a family of four to live in Milan (excluding rent). We are a family of 3 and plan to live in the countryside!With this time to think things through and do a little research we have decided that 2018 is the new 2020! We will hope to leave the US in the first half of 2018, buy a car and caravan and vacation around Europe until November. We will then head to an Italian town like Todi, Spoleto or Perugia and hibernate, learn Italian and start the property search with the hope of buying a property so we can move in by the Spring/Summer 2019!Wow, this feels great to make plans which are imminent!

The techniques used at Monestevole are interesting and also a great use of space. This video talks about the way they grow vegetables in the polytunnel as well as how they grow vegetables in their Madala Garden. Thanks for watching!